scholarly journals Achieving China’s Long-Term Carbon Emission Abatement Targets: A Perspective from Regional Disparity

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4244
Author(s):  
Yong Bian ◽  
Zhi Yu ◽  
Xuelan Zeng ◽  
Jingchun Feng ◽  
Chao He

As China is the largest greenhouse gas emitter and has the characteristics of significant regional disparity, the issue of regional low-carbon development strategy is of vital importance for the achievement of the country’s long-term emission targets. This work focused on China’s long-term carbon emission abatement from the perspective of regional disparity. We firstly analyzed the national emission trajectories consistent with the current Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), 2 °C, and 1.5 °C goals in two economic growth pathways by 2050 using a linear programming model, then classified the provinces into three categories, and compared results of different scenarios of regional disparity patterns, economic growth rates, and emission targets. Results showed that different regional patterns led to different required carbon reduction targets for all categories, and the regional emission reduction measures had to be stronger in a higher growth rate or a more stringent emission target, especially for the developed areas. A scheme of regionally coordinated low-carbon development was then recommended for the formulation of long-term regional emission targets, and carbon reduction strategies for categories were proposed in terms of energy mix optimization, industrial transformation, and technology innovation, which is of great policy implication for China in regional development and national emission targets enhancement.

Author(s):  
Qiang Wang ◽  
Shasha Wang ◽  
Rongrong Li

Quantitative analysis on decoupling between economic output, carbon emission, and the driving factors behind decoupling states can serve to make the economy grow without increasing carbon emission in China’s transport sector. In this work, we investigate the decoupling states and driving factors of decoupling states in the transport sector of China’s four municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing) through combining the Tapio decoupling approach with the decomposition technique. The results show that (i) the decoupling state of Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin improved; Beijing stabilized in weak decoupling; Shanghai and Tianjin appeared to have strong decoupling, but the decoupling state of Chongqing deteriorated from decoupling to negative decoupling. (ii) The energy-saving effect was the primary contributor to decoupling in these four municipalities, promoting transport’s economic growth strongly decouple from carbon emission. The economic scale effect was not optimized enough in Chongqing, facilitating expansive coupling, and expansive negative decoupling emerged. But it had a rather positive impact on decoupling process in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, promoting economic growth to weakly decouple from carbon emission. (iii) The carbon-reduction effect promoted strong decoupling, which emerged in Shanghai’s transport sector, more so than in the other three municipalities, in which weak decoupling emerged. Finally, several relevant policy recommendations were offered to promote the decoupling of carbon emission from economic growth and low-carbon transport.


2020 ◽  
pp. 51-74
Author(s):  
I. A. Bashmakov

The article presents the key results of scenario projections that underpinned the Strategy for long-term low carbon economic development of the Russian Federation to 2050, including analysis of potential Russia’s GHG emission mitigation commitments to 2050 and assessment of relevant costs, benefits, and implications for Russia’s GDP. Low carbon transformation of the Russian economy is presented as a potential driver for economic growth that offers trillions-of-dollars-worth market niches for low carbon products by mid-21st century. Transition to low carbon economic growth is irreversible. Lagging behind in this technological race entails a security risk and technological backwardness hazards.


2009 ◽  
pp. 107-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Bashmakov

On the eve of the worldwide negotiations of a new climate agreement in December 2009 in Copenhagen it is important to clearly understand what Russia can do to mitigate energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in the medium (until 2020) and in the long term (until 2050). The paper investigates this issue using modeling tools and scenario approach. It concludes that transition to the "Low-Carbon Russia" scenarios must be accomplished in 2020—2030 or sooner, not only to mitigate emissions, but to block potential energy shortages and its costliness which can hinder economic growth.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
He Zhang ◽  
Jianxun Zhang ◽  
Rui Wang ◽  
Yazhe Huang ◽  
Mengxiao Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractWith the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the 5G age, the construction of smart cities around the world consequents on the exploration of carbon reduction path based on IoT technology is an important direction for global low carbon city research. Carbon dioxide emissions in small cities are usually higher than that in large and medium cities. However, due to the huge difference in data environment between small cities and Medium-large sized cities, the weak hardware foundation of the IoT, and the high input cost, the construction of a small city smart carbon monitoring platform has not yet been carried out. This paper proposes a real-time estimate model of carbon emissions at the block and street scale and designs a smart carbon monitoring platform that combines traditional carbon control methods with IoT technology. It can exist long-term data by using real-time data acquired with the sensing device. Therefore, the dynamic monitoring and management of low-carbon development in small cities can be achieved. The contributions are summarized as follows: (1) Intelligent thermoelectric systems, industrial energy monitoring systems, and intelligent transportation systems are three core systems of the monitoring platform. Carbon emission measurement methods based on sample monitoring, long-term data, and real-time data have been established, they can solve the problem of the high cost of IoT equipment in small cities. (2) Combined with long-term data, the real-time correction technology, they can dispose of the matter of differences in carbon emission measurement under diverse scales.


Author(s):  
Andrew Ross

Why did I choose to end this book with the Gila River Indian Community’s effort to win back its water? Because it is a parable about how democracy and its courts can not only serve but also be served by the quest for sustainability. The GRIC water settlement brought a long struggle for environmental justice to a triumphant conclusion. Delivering justice meant that a large portion of the region’s available resources would be sequestered from the growth machine. Instead of supplying a new generation of low-density tract housing, the water could now be used to produce healthy, local food for the area population, and, if nonindustrial agriculture prevailed, the result would be a double win for carbon reduction. Surely, this is how a green polity ought to act, redressing the claims of those who have been aggrieved, and doing it in a way that extends long-term benefits for all. If all responses to environmental injustice were able to follow suit, it would be a welcome model for moving forward. Even if the Gila River example is unlikely to be replicated in other places, its guiding spirit is a sound one. What if the key to sustainability lies in innovating healthy pathways out of poverty for populations at risk, rather than marketing green gizmos to those who already have many options to choose from? These are not mutually exclusive options, of course, but the lessons I took away from my research convinced me of the pressing need for clear alternatives to the eco-apartheid syndrome that afflicts Phoenix and so many other cities. Building a low-carbon economy by targeting only the LOHAS demographic (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, the upmarket segment of 40 million, or 20 percent of consumers, nationally) will end up doing little more than adding a green gloss to patterns of chronic inequality. Likewise, placing all of our faith in clean-tech fixes will cede too much decision making to a closed circle of experts who, regardless of their technical prowess, will have no power to prevent the uneven application of their solutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Chen ◽  
Man Yu

In an uncertainty market, social learning plays a significant role in obtaining information to make better decisions. Under cap-and-trade regulation, this paper aims to investigate firms’ pricing and carbon emission abatement issues considering the impact of social learning. This paper establishes a two-period model in a market consisting of a manufacturer and heterogeneous consumers. The manufacturer produces two alternatives (ordinary product and low-carbon product) and makes decisions on sales prices and carbon emission abatement levels. Consumers make decisions on whether and which product to buy. Consumers are not sure about their valuations of products and have the opportunity to discover their true valuation by social learning. The results show that the emission abatement level on ordinary product is affected by the pricing strategy for both types of products. However, the emission abatement level on low-carbon product is only affected by its own pricing strategy. It also shows that social learning lowers the emission abatement level on ordinary product, whereas it improves the emission abatement level on low-carbon product when charging a high price for low-carbon product. Moreover, the price of ordinary product in period 1 is no less than that in period 2. In contrast, the price of low-carbon product in period 2 is higher than that in period 1.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjuan Yang ◽  
Rongqin Zhao ◽  
Xiaowei Chuai ◽  
Liangang Xiao ◽  
Lianhai Cao ◽  
...  

AbstractClimate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental issues worldwide. As the world’s biggest developing country, China is participating in combating climate change by promoting a low carbon economy within the context of global warming. This paper summarizes the pathways of China’s low carbon economy including the aspects of energy, industry, low carbon cities, circular economy and low carbon technology, afforestation and carbon sink, the carbon emission trading market and carbon emission reduction targets. There are many achievements in the implementation of low carbon policies. For example, carbon emission intensity has been reduced drastically along with the optimizing of energy and industry structure and a nationwide carbon trading market for electricity industry has been established. However, some problems remain, such as the weakness of public participation, the ineffectiveness of unified policies for certain regions and the absence of long-term planning for low carbon cities development. Therefore, we propose some policy recommendations for the future low carbon economy development in China. Firstly, comprehensive and long-term planning should be involved in all the low carbon economy pathways. Secondly, to coordinate the relationship between central and local governments and narrow the gap between poor and rich regions, different strategies of carbon emission performance assessment should be applied for different regions. Thirdly, enterprises should cooperate with scientific research institutions to explored low carbon technologies. Finally, relevant institutions should be regulated to realize comprehensive low carbon transition through reasonable and feasible low carbon pathways in China. These policy recommendations will provide new perspectives for China’s future low carbon economy development and guide practices for combating climate change.


2020 ◽  
pp. 713-727
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Wang, Xin Zhang

The study on the relationship between investment in environmental governance, carbon emission and economic growth is helpful for the relevant government departments to coordinate the influence among them when formulating the policies of reducing emission and conserving energy, so as to take the comparative advantages of various factors and promote the benign interaction between economic development and environmental governance. In this paper, the data of Per capita GDP, per capita investment in environmental governance and per capita CARBON dioxide emissions in China from 2000 to 2019 are selected as the research basis, and variables are studied by means of Granger causality and impulse response function. As shown in the results, there is a single Granger relationship between investment in environmental governance and carbon emissions, that is, the increase of investment in environmental governance leads to the reduction of carbon emissions. The influence of economic growth on environmental governance investment is small, but in the long term, it can restrain the growth of carbon emissions. Investment in environmental governance can promote economic growth and stimulate a reduction in the emissions in the short term; Economic growth was hindered by the emissions in the long term and fail to stimulate increased investment in environmental governance. Based on these findings, this paper proposes policy Suggestions for optimizing the structure of environmental governance investment, improving the carbon emission monitoring and response mechanism, and strengthening the technological level of energy conservation and emission reduction.


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